Caley Mad In Berks

25 May Toby Agdestein, coming on as a sub, scored a late equaliser for Haugesund in a Norwegian Cup match at Bodo. Match finished 2-2, went to extra time and finished 3-3. Haugesund lost on penalties (Agdestein scoring one of these as well).

Andy Murray has just scraped through another 5-setter to reach the 3rd round. Those two matches were against opponents who were not supposed to give him any difficulty. At times in the 2nd and 3rd sets today, especially when he lost 8 straight games, he looked really lost, and on the way out. Thankfully he pulled himself together. Let's hope he can recapture his excellent form on clay which saw him reach the Spanish final and win in Rome recently. He'll need to, as the matches will only get tougher from now on. Good luck Andy.

Now get Meekings back to central defence alongside Warren, and we have a decent look about our defence!

Great news. Good to see that the board, if not the ex manager, have listened to the fans.

Sad, but not unexpected. Hope he gets another club soon.

The more I think about it, that is quite a display of confidence in the ICT board that OFW has displayed. To rejoin a managerless club, at this stage of the season, leads me to think that quite an incentive must have been offered. Maybe a chunk of the Euro 2016 money will be going straight to OFW. I have no problem if that is the case, as we would not have got it anyway if he had not re-signed. As I said earlier, good man Owain. Let us hope that his example spurs on a few more to put pen to paper!

A bit of good news at last. Just in time to pick up Euro 2016 bonus too. Good man Owain.

Now getting ready to watch Crystal Palace turn over Man Utd. Hope Mike (Eagle for Caley) has as good a day at Wembley today as he and I had at Hampden a year ago. Come on the Eagles!

Agee 100% with all of that. What a chance we threw away of reaching another final, with a good chance of winning it too, especially as I see Hibs, however rank they've been recently, have beaten Sevco today! Good for them.

As far as I can see, he knew what the budget was. Its not that he had no money to spend, more that he spent it unwisely, flooding the squad with mainly mediocre midfielders when our main requirement was up front. Apart from Storey (on loan) he signed no one of any real quality up front. Coupled with his ridiculous and stubborn stance re Raven, this was always going to end in tears. I thank him for being in charge, and rightly being praised, for giving us our best season in our short history, but I can't honestly say I'm sad to see him go. Lets look to the future with optimism!

Yes, I agree that the Dundee Utd approach for Hughes appears to have been the 'beginning of the end'. In hindsight we would have been far better off letting him go with some compensation, rather than where we are now having to pay him off.

What a difference a year makes! Who would have thought it would end like this after the euphoria of the Cup win and qualification for Europe just twelve short months ago. I feel sure that Hughes must have been content with the proposed budget when he signed his extension contract a few months ago. So, unless the board has done a massive U-turn and not come up with the money, I don't get why he has so openly been critical of them in the media. That approach had only one way it could turn out. No one person is bigger than the club. So, time for a fresh start. There will be no shortage of candidates, small budget or not. I just hope the new manager can have as much success as Hughes clearly had. Onwards and upwards? I can only hope so!

Can't help feeling a little disappointed in Storey accepting a better offer from Aberdeen after less than a season with us. I know all the arguments about it being a short career and players have to maximise their earnings while they can, but maybe one more season with us would have been a nice gesture on his part, as a 'thank you' for resurrecting his career which was clearly going nowhere at Swindon. Maybe I expect too much! I don't wish him any ill at Aberdeen, but I cannot bring myself to wish him 'all the best', which I clearly did for Graeme Shinnie after his years of loyal service with us. But as for Aberdeen as a club, I hope their good form of the last three matches continues for another three seasons or so.

I've been away for a week, with little internet. Apart from the two goals above identified by Sneckboy, and Sam Winnall's two for Barnsley in their play off (mentioned by TBB on the exICT players news thread), I've also spotted a few more in the last few days. Toby Agdestein got another for Haugesund in Norway (7 in 7 matches now), Tarmo Kink got one for SJK in Finland (his first for them I think), and of course, yesterday, Ryan Christie opened his account for Celtic, and Stuart Armstrong got another of Celtic's goals.

Dani Lopez scored the only goal in a 1-0 away win for Arenas de Getxo at Guadalajara, on Sat (7 May).

Two more for Sam Winnall today (8 May), in a 4-1 win for Barnsley at Wigan. (As an aside, I notice Marley Watkins has not played for Barnsley for weeks now, not even on the bench. Don't know if he has a long term injury, or just out of favour!)

Well, how disappointing was that after our last two games? Yes, we had plenty possession, but did we look threatening? Not at all, until we were 3 down, when at last we showed some urgency. Then Hughes takes off our best player by far . Why?? Was he injured? Not that I saw! Really liked Roberts tonight. Hope we can hang on to him. Of the 3 ex ICT players in the Utd side, I think only Ofere looked the part on tonight's performance. But I doubt we'll see him back at the dump playing for us. As Hiro said in earlier post, I have always thought our defence looks most solid with Meekings and Warren together as centre backs. For heavens sake get Raven back in at right back and keep Devine for emergencies. Think we'll have to win both of our last two matches to have any chance of 7th now.. I won't be rushing to the bookies to check out the odds!

Gives me no pleasure to confirm that Edie Ofere scored against us for Dundee Utd tonight (6 May). Also, Curtis Allen scored for Glentoran in a 2-1 away win at Coleraine

Toby Agestein on target again this evening with a goal in a 4-1, away from home, Norwegian cup win. That's six in six matches now since scoring his first just under three weeks ago.

Yes, many congratulations to Leicester. In all the adulation being heaped on Ranieri (deservedly), I see Nigel Pearson never gets a mention, and yet, this is largely the same team that he built last season and which, against everyone's expectation, managed to avoid relegation. Funny old game is it not?

Ofere scored his first goal for Dundee Utd in their 2-1 loss to neighbours, Dundee tonight.

Plus it is on BT Sport as well! But, small crowd or not, let's hope for a good win to keep our nice little run going. Amazing how two wins has brought some confidence and optimism back to our forum. Long may it continue. 7th place, here we come. Onwards and upwards.

Toby Agdestein scored both goals for his side, Haugesund, in a 3-2 defeat by Viking, in Stavanger, Norway, this afternoon (1 May).

Just found out that Ibra Sekajja, who I thought was at Braintree, has dropped down a league to National League South and is playing for Hemel Hemstead Town, and has scored twice during April!

Robert Eagle's Lowestoft Town are relegated from National League North, on goal difference.